Phoenix — He would frequently invite me into his office after a practice just to chat. He let me sit in on film sessions with the coaching staff. He invited me and the other beat writers to his house for Christmas parties.
There was no coach whom I covered before or since that afforded me the trust and the access that George Irvine did. It was such a different time.
The news of his death on Tuesday, at age 69 — finally losing his courageous fight against lymphoma — created a flood of emotions and memories.